Blair returns to power, but with reduced margin

Blair returns to power, but with reduced margin


LONDON: Tony Blair won a third straight term in power on Friday, but a chastened prime minister admitted voters had acted to curb his power after the unpopular Iraq war.


Voters turned out on Thursday after a month of electioneering in which his opponents labelled him a liar over the US-led war.


In the early hours of Friday morning, the Labour party secured the 324th seat in parliament that guaranteed it an overall majority.



An exit poll and projections by the BBC and ITV suggest the premier will end up with a majority somewhere between 60 and 80 seats, down from 161 last time.



After winning his own seat in Sedgefield a sombre Blair said: "It is not yet clear, obviously, what the majority is. But it seems as if it is clear that the British people wanted the return of a Labour government but with a reduced majority."



He acknowledged the impact of his support for war in Iraq. "I know Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country but I hope we now can unite again and look to the future," he said.



A sharply reduced majority would diminish Blair's authority in his third and last term and his mood contrasted sharply to that when he won landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.



It could also hasten his fall, with powerful Chancellor Gordon Brown waiting in the wings and now far more popular both in the party and with the public.



Projections suggest Labour only secured 36 percent of the vote, an all-time low for a winning party. In almost all its seats, its vote share had dropped from the 2001 election.



"Clearly this is a very unpopular government. It has done very badly," said Anthony King, professor of politics at Essex University.



But Blair has still become only the second premier in British history after Margaret Thatcher to win three elections in a row.



He is also the first leader to win three successive terms for Labour.




LONDON: Tony Blair won a third straight term in power on Friday, but a chastened prime minister admitted voters had acted to curb his power after the unpopular Iraq war.



Voters turned out on Thursday after a month of electioneering in which his opponents labelled him a liar over the US-led war.



In the early hours of Friday morning, the Labour party secured the 324th seat in parliament that guaranteed it an overall majority.



An exit poll and projections by the BBC and ITV suggest the premier will end up with a majority somewhere between 60 and 80 seats, down from 161 last time.



After winning his own seat in Sedgefield a sombre Blair said: "It is not yet clear, obviously, what the majority is. But it seems as if it is clear that the British people wanted the return of a Labour government but with a reduced majority."



He acknowledged the impact of his support for war in Iraq. "I know Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country but I hope we now can unite again and look to the future," he said.



A sharply reduced majority would diminish Blair's authority in his third and last term and his mood contrasted sharply to that when he won landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.



It could also hasten his fall, with powerful Chancellor Gordon Brown waiting in the wings and now far more popular both in the party and with the public.



Projections suggest Labour only secured 36 percent of the vote, an all-time low for a winning party. In almost all its seats, its vote share had dropped from the 2001 election.



"Clearly this is a very unpopular government. It has done very badly," said Anthony King, professor of politics at Essex University.



But Blair has still become only the second premier in British history after Margaret Thatcher to win three elections in a row.



He is also the first leader to win three successive terms for Labour.